Los Gatos High captured its first boys track and field league title in five years without perhaps its finest athlete.
Don Gaspar, a state finalist in the 400 meters last season, injured his hamstring last week and missed the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division finals Thursday at Los Altos.
He has been granted a spot in the SCVAL qualification meet next week as a hardship case, and Coach Tom Newman said Gaspar should be well enough to run. But there remains some doubt as to his status and whether he should defy the advice of his doctor to compete.
But even without Gaspar, Los Gatos won in a rout, scoring 126 points to 68 for runner-up Milpitas. Coupled with their undefeated dual-meet season, the Wildcats won the league championship based on a formula that combines results of the regular season and the league finals.
Palo Alto captured a share of the girls' title by winning the finals with 117 points, to 89 points for regular-season champion Monta Vista. And Monta Vista was fortunate to even share the title as it narrowly salvaged a fifth place in the final event, the 1,600 relay. The Matadors edged Los Gatos by one point to secure the co-title.
The Matadors, who won the SCVAL El Camino Division championships the past two years, were lifted into fifth as two-time distance winner Angela Hsu (3,200 in 11 minutes, 23.56 seconds and 1,600 in 5:10.63) ran her fourth event of the day. And double sprints winner Maria Nelson (100 in 12.38 and 200 in 25.82) ran a scorching anchor split of 56.2 to pass Gunn for the crucial spot.
Palo Alto took advantage of a sweep of the horizontal jumps by Katy Wanner (long jump in 16 feet, 3 3/4 inches and triple jump in 33- 1/2), a victory in the 100 hurdles by Elissa Chandler (16.15) and an 800 win from sophomore Mia Lattanzi (2:21.39) to win.
Lattanzi's victory came 45 minutes after her second-place finish to Los Altos' Bria Nelson in the 400. After the 400, Lattanzi, the defending Central Coast Section champion in the event, said she would drop it and concentrate on the 800. She has shown great potential in the longer event, though she is in her first year competing.
``She'll only do one event next week,'' Palo Alto Coach Paul Jones said. ``But it's premature to say which one. We need to talk about it.''
Bria Nelson's victory was a breakthrough of sorts for the junior. As a freshman, she was third in the 400 and last year was second to Lattanzi, and second in the 200. Her first league title became even more elusive when the Eagles' 400 relay team, which had the third-best time in the section, was disqualified after a poor first exchange was completed out of the zone.
Aware of Lattanzi's lethal kick in the 400, Nelson went out fast in the first 200 and held on dearly in the second. With Lattanzi closing, Nelson won in 58.60 to 58.61. Nelson later added another title, in the 1,600 relay.
Los Altos junior Eric Hersey ran a league-record 14.30 in the 110 high hurdles and finished off a hurdles sweep in the 300 intermediates (39.94). His 110 time was superior to a hand-timed 14.1 (equivalent to a 14.34 electronic time) in 1982 by Palo Alto's Rod Green.
``It's starting to come together,'' Hersey said. ``My times had been coming up lately, so this meet was a big step for me.''
The winning Los Gatos boys were led by victories in the 100 by David Martini (11.45), the 3,200 by Matt Petrillo (9:47.49), the shot put by sophomore Colin Quirke (52-8) and the discus by repeat champion Randall Horn (165-9).